TOPDOX: “A Startup Is All About The Team.”

Describe TOPDOX in 50 words or less.

TOPDOX is a Documents Collaboration Platform, any document format, across any cloud storage. Sync, edit, share or collaborate on anything, anytime and anywhere. TOPDOX is the hub for all your digital files. Everything in one place, everywhere.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

I’ve worked for 10 years for big companies, clients and even teaching at college. But after a couple of years you stop learning and you get stuck. I wanted to keep learning and evolving as a professional and as a human being. But most importantly, I wanted to have an impact in the world, making something that could help people worldwide to have a better work experience on the mobile revolution.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

In 7 years from know, TOPDOX created a world where people have access to any digital files that matters to them anytime and anywhere. People can finally collaborate forgetting cloud storages, platforms or document formats. This means that TOPDOX created a world where it doesn’t matter where documents are or what document format we use because we can access and share them anytime and everywhere.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

We are currently building our own path and every day we need to learn how to build the next mile of that path and when we find it, we celebrate that success. It’s very easy to lose track in a startup. So many cool features to build, so many interesting events to attend, but we need to be laser focused on building the best experience for our user.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

Intense. We are currently 20 people divided into 7 small teams (2-3 people). So, after a week planning, every single day I need to catch up with every team to see if they need any help, if we are on schedule or if we are facing any unexpected problem. This is a regular fun work day, but many times a lot more gets in, like meetings, book keeping, bureaucratic stuff and networking events.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the collaboration platform like you imagined it in the beginning?

We didn’t pivoted yet, but we changed and evolved a lot since we launched our first MVP. Every day/week we learn new things about our users and we adapt and evolve the product and the platform to fulfil their needs. Many of our users use our platform as we imagined, but many others, use it in completely unexpected ways. So, we are learning from all these different groups of users to improve our platform, improve the overall experience and incorporate new possibilities.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

We spent a year bootstrapping and then we raised a 1 million euros seed round that allowed us to grow at a totally different pace. With our current strategy for the long term, we will be looking for a series A round by the end of 2016. But we are also already testing some monetization strategies to validate our business model.

What were the biggest challenges you faced building your startup?

The biggest challenges we faced in the beginning was to build the team. Getting the right engineers onboard at a very early stage was hard, because everyone was telling us “that’s too complex to build, to hard”. So, by far building the right team was the most difficult part. We hired and fired a lot of people until we got to this amazing team working with us right now.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

First, we need to stay true to the vision. That doesn’t mean that we should avoid external feedback or changes. It only means that we shouldn’t have a different vision every week. We need to carefully listen to our costumers/users to learn as much as possible from them, look at the data we are collecting and then evolve and adapt as fast as possible. I truly believe, this is the only way to succeed in a very competitive space.

What do you look for in team members?

Great technical skills, autotomy, cultural fit, passion to solve complex problems. We are looking for people that have the dream, passion and skills to change the world. It’s hard to find the right people, but when you find them, it makes a huge difference.

Why would a talent join your team?

Because we offer an amazing work environment where everyone can have an impact not only in the vision and product that we are building but also in the world. Together with Miguel, my co-founder, we spend a lot of time building the right environment and space for our team to thrive. It’s totally up to them to make it happen.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

Last year, the dev team and I went to a conference in Berlin (the UIKonf). The conference was great, but most importantly, we were able to develop a strong bound with each other. These are the moments that make a difference in the life of a startup. We work together day by day, side by side, for months and it’s crucial that we get along with each other.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Be very carefully when you select your team. Chose wisely and if you make a mistake fire them fast. Like they usually say “a startup is all about the team”. This is so true!

_____________

Sharing is caring so please share this post. Thank you!